Turrbal language

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Australian Aboriginal language

title: "Turrbal language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["durubalic-languages", "extinct-languages-of-queensland"] description: "Australian Aboriginal language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turrbal_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Australian Aboriginal language ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Turrbal
nativename	Yagara
region	Queensland
ethnicity	Turrbal
familycolor	Australian
fam1	Pama–Nyungan
fam2	Durubalic
iso3	yxg
aiatsis	E86
aiatsisname	Turubul
aiatsis2	E23
aiatsisname2	Jagara
glotto	yaga1256
glottoname	Yagara-Jandai
speakers	?
states	Australia
::

Turrbal is an Aboriginal Australian language of the Turrbal people of the Brisbane area of Queensland.

Alternate spellings include Turubul, Turrubal, Turrabul, Toorbal, and Tarabul.

Classification

The four dialects listed in Dixon (2002) are sometimes seen as separate Durubalic languages, especially Jandai and Nunukul; Yagara, Yugarabul, and Turrbul proper are more likely to be considered dialects. Turrbal (E86) has been variously classified as a language, group of languages or as a dialect of another language. Norman Tindale uses the term Turrbal (E86) to refers to speakers of the language of Yagara E23. John Steele classifies Turrbal (E86) as a language within the Yagara language group. R. M. W. Dixon classifies Turrbal as a dialect of the language of Yagera, in the technical linguistic sense where mutually intelligible dialects are deemed to belong to a single language. Bowern considers Turrbal to be one of five languages of the "Turubulic" language group, the others being Nunukul, Yaraga, Janday and Guwar.

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table]

Peripheral	Laminal	Apical	Labial
b	ɡ	ɟ	d
m	ŋ	ɲ	n
			r
			l
w	j
::

Stop sounds may also be heard as voiceless .

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back
i		u
e		o
	a
::

Vowel length is also distinctive.
A lax /a/ can also be heard as [ə].

Vocabulary

Some words from the Turrbal / Yagara language include:

Bigi: sun
Binung: ear
Bugwal: wallaby
Buneen: echidna
Bangil / bungil: grass
Buhn: knee
Buyu: shin
Deear : teeth
Dhagun: land
Dhambur : mouth
Dharang: leg
Dhiggeri: belly / stomach
Dinna: foot
Dyrrbin: bone
Gahm: head
Giga: shoulder
Gurumba bigi: good day
Gujah / guttah: snake
Gagarr / guyurr: fish
Juhrram: rain
Juwahduwan / juwahnduwan / juwanbinl: bird(s)
Killen: finger
Kundul: canoe
Marra: hand
Dumbirrbi / marrambi: koala
Mil: eye / eyes
Guruman / murri: kangaroo
Muru: nose
Nammul: children
Nggurrun: neck
Ngumbi: home / camp
Tahbil: water (fresh)
Towan: fish
Tullei: tree
Waiyebba: arm
Wunya: welcome / greetings
Yilam: forehead

The literary journal Meanjin takes its name from the Turrbal name for the land centred at Gardens Point on which Brisbane was founded. This name is sometimes used for the greater Brisbane area.

Loanword yakka

The Australian English word yakka, an informal term referring to any work, especially of strenuous kind, comes from a Yagara word yaga, the verb for 'work'.

References

"Turrbal Aboriginal Tribe - Traditional Owners of Brisbane".
Dixon, R. M. W.. (2002). "Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development". Cambridge University Press.
(26 July 2019). "E23: Yuggera". [[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]].
(26 July 2019). "E66: Yugarabul". [[Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies]].
(1944). "Vocabularies of four representative tribes of South Eastern Queensland : with grammatical notes thereof and some notes on manners and customs, also, a list of Aboriginal place names and their derivations". Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland).
(1974). "Aboriginal tribes of Australia : their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names". University of California Press.
(1984). "Aboriginal pathways : in southeast Queensland and the Richmond River". University of Queensland Press.
(2002). "Australian languages their nature and development". Cambridge University Press.
(2013). "The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages". Oxford.
Charlton, Kerry. (2019). "An introduction to the languages of Moreton Bay : Yagarabul and Its Djandewal dialect, and Moreton Islands Gowar".
Jefferies, Tony. (2011). "Guwar, the language of Moreton Island, and its relationship to the Bandjalang and Yagara subgroups: a case for phylogenetic migratory expansion?". University of Queensland.
Sullivan, Karen. (2024). "Yagara dictionary and salvage grammar". Canberra: ANU Press.
"Turrubul". [[State Library of Queensland]].
"Jagara". [[State Library of Queensland]].
"Yugarabul". [[State Library of Queensland]].
"Yuggera". [[State Library of Queensland]].
(10 September 1901). "The Old Brisbane Blacks.". [[The Brisbane Courier]].
(23 July 2023). "Naarm, Gadigal, Tāmaki Makaurau: Indigenous place names in the spotlight at Women's World Cup". The Guardian.
(14 July 2023). "Meanjin: exploring the Traditional Place name of Brisbane".
Macquarie Dictionary. (19 August 2019). "Good, old-fashioned hard yakka".
"Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms". Australian National University.

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